Female F-22 pioneer lauds Air Force’s progress

Col. Dunlop was the first to fly an F-22 and the first female fighter pilot in Europe. | AP Photo

But even as Dunlop climbed the ranks, the path has been less clear for many other women. Few reach the services’ highest levels — partially, Dunlop suggested, because of the sacrifices and shuffles required to do so.

“For me, I don’t mind the moving every couple of years and my family is incredibly supportive,” she said. “But I also don’t have kids and am not married, and so it makes it much easier for me to move around and to pursue the job elements that I so value out of military service.”

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And she conceded that finding the perfect equilibrium can be difficult, particularly for women.

“It’s obviously an individual choice for everyone,” she said. “But it weighs on the shoulders of women, I think sometimes more heavily in certain families, because I think by nature women feel responsible about being the core of the family and that is difficult sometimes when you’re constantly moving.”

One of the criticisms consistently leveled at the Air Force is its public struggle with sexual assaults. It’s a problem that has been pervasive throughout the military. But the Air Force’s recent history has included some of the most high-profile cases, including the still-unfolding sexual assault scandal at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, home to basic training operations.

Air Force officials have undertaken a number of recent reforms. And at her Senate confirmation hearing, Deborah Lee James — President Barack Obama’s pick to serve as the next Air Force secretary — pledged to make the Air Force a place where victims of sexual assault could feel confident in coming forward and expecting justice.

Dunlop said there is much more to the Air Force than its sexual assault record, but she acknowledged she has seen that side of it firsthand.

“We have all volunteered to give our life in the defense of this nation. We need to treat each other with respect as opposed to allowing those small percentage of individuals who are violating those standards and who are abusing others to get away with that,” she said. “I think it occurs more than our senior leadership would like to acknowledge. I don’t want to talk about my personal experience, but I know a lot of people who have been sexually assaulted or sexually harassed, probably no more so on the outside, but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable.”

Dunlop didn’t endorse Gillibrand’s or any other legislative proposal, but she said she’d like to see the Air Force move to a “zero-tolerance policy.”

“I think our senior leadership embraces it and supports that, and I think they’re looking for every possible way to reduce the even small number of sexual assaults that occur,” she said. “They look to our military commanders, they look to outside agencies, they’re looking internally to try to motivate us to be good wingmen and professionals in the highest sense to eradicate this once and for all.”

Asked whether the Air Force and the other services had gone far enough, Dunlop said not yet.

“When becoming the first female wing commander is no longer news or becoming the first female test wing commander is no longer news,” she said, “then we’ll have really made a mark.”